Piler for sheet steel



c. E. HoPwooD PILER FOR SHEET STEEL March 27, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheetl 1 Filed Aug. 28, 1952 1N VENTOR NN wmv Charles lf2'. Ha 2000i,

BY l @l ATTORN March 27, 1956 c. E. HoPwooD 2,739,514

PILER FOR SHEET STEEL Filed Aug. 28. 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 la 118 lo? 1N VENTOR Charles EHoju/ooa March 27, 1956 c. E. HoPwooD 2,739,514

PILER FOR SHEET STEEL Filed Aug. 28. 1552 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 N @n E Q 1\ O@ 0@ MO N O O s %\Q% "$5 E i ,w E I Mq E wb gg E 1 D E E E w E 1 E L @"l E Y u 4 E M m @n QI E fi E W i? (35H QQ* a VE Emmi M "S 15 a N E SE mn A b5 IN VENTOR Charlas' E? Hopwaoal,

March 27, 1956 c. E. HoPwooD PILER FOR SHEET STEEL Filed Aug. 28. 1952 INVENTOR Charla@ EH@ wood,

BY pb/f.

March 27, 1956 c. E. HoPwooD PILER FOR SHEET STEEL 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 28, 1952 INVENTOR Charlas' EH@ u/o ad,

UnitedStates Patent() PILER FOR SHEET STEEL Charles E. Hopwood, Baltimore, Md., assignor to Bethlehem Steel Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 28, 1952, Serial No. 306,750

11 Claims. (Cl. 9393) My invention relates in general to a device for handling metal sheets, and more particularly to a device for stacking flat or corrugated steel sheets in relatively staggered and counted piles.

Steel sheets, plates and the like in conventional mill sizes are quite large, heavy and awkward to handle, and therefore cannot be counted and placed in numbered groups manually with any great degree of exactness, speed or etliciency. Moreover, the unskilled workmen who might be assigned to such work are likely to become careless in regard to preserving the smoothly finished surfaces which may be a not inconsiderable part of the value of the product.

One object of my invention, therefore, is to eliminate the need for manual counting and grouping of sheets and the like.

Another object is to provide a mechanism for automatically counting the sheets and then piling them in offset groups of predetermined numbers of sheets.

A further object is to provide electrical control means for actuating said sheet counting and piling mechanism.

Still other objects, purposes and advantages of my invention will be hereinafter disclosed in the specification and claims, and in the annexed live sheets of drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a side elevation of apparatus embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of the apparatus;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailed vertical section of the end stops and sheet support arms of the apparatus, and showing the arrangement of the lluid pressure cylinders for individually shifting and dropping the sheets;

Fig. 5 is a detailed horizontal section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 6 is a detailed end elevation of one end stop, with its sheet support arm being shown in lowered position;

Fig. 7 is a top plan View of the sheet pile lowering mechanism; and

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the preset counter and sheet contact switch to control the actuation of the sheet support arms.

Referring now particularly to items designated by individual reference numerals, in Figs. 1-3 inclusive, the concrete oor slab 1 constitutes a general foundation on which is mounted the corrugating machine 2 which transforms flat sheets 3 into corrugated sheets 4, and the belt conveyor 5, the sheet piler 6, the vertically movable roll table 7, and the stationary roll table 8, over which said corrugated sheets 4 are advanced.

The corrugating machine 2 as shown is substantially conventional, comprising a pair of corrugating rolls 9 which are journaled in suitable bearings (not shown) in housings 10 having sheet guides 11 and 12. Said rolls 9 are made adjustable by means of screw-downs 13, and

are driven through pinions 14 and a coupling box 15 by a motor 16.

Adjacent the sheet delivery guide 12 is the belt conveyor 5, comprising a plurality of at conveyor belts 17 carried on drive pulleys 18 vand idler pulleys 19 journaled in bearings 20 on a frame 21 standing on legs 22. On the adjoining motor base 23 is mounted a gear motor 24 having on its shaft 25 a grooved pulley 26 carrying V-belts 27 rotating a sheave 28 attached to the outermost drive pulley 18 from which power is transmitted to the other drive pulleys through the couplings 29.

From the belt conveyor 5 the corrugated sheets 4 to be stacked are delivered by means of the sheet piler 6 onto the vertically movable roller conveyor 7.

Said sheet piler 6 is provided with rectangular supporting frames 30 adjacent the ends of said roll table 7. Each frame 30 comprises a pair of spaced I-beam uprghts 31, with the upper ends of each pair of the uprights 31 being connected by welded cross channels 32. Situated above and lengthwise of the roll table 7 is a T-shaped member 33 connecting the cross channels 32 and constituting a monorail trackway for carriages 34 and 35.

Referring to Figs. l and 2, the left hand carriage 34 comprises a horizontally disposed plate 36 having welded thereon a pair of upper trunnion supports 37 and two pairs of lower side bearings 38 and 39 wherein the rollers 40 are journaled on shafts 41 and 42 for movement on the top surface of the trackway member 33. In keeper bars 43 attached beneath the lower side bearings 38 and 39 are threaded large clamp bolts 44 provided with handwheels 45 and adapted to engage the lower surface of the trackway member 33.

Pivotally mounted in the upper trunnion supports 37 of said left hand carriage 34 is an air cylinder 46 containing a piston (not shown), the rod 47 of which terminates in a lug 48. A shaft 49 passed through said lug 4S and through extension members 50 which are pivoted therebeneath on the rear roller shaft 42 enables the air cylinder 46 to tilt the swinging stop plate 51 preferably having a permanent magnet 52 of Alnico or the like thereon. Said stop plate 51 is suspended by spaced side angles 53 welded to said extension members 56.

As shown in Figs. 4 to 6, inclusive, said stop plate 51 is provided with a window aperture 54 below which on the rear of said stop plate 51 is mounted a fixed bracket 55 having on the forward edge thereof a small double pole switch 56 with an extended roller arm 57. Also mounted on said fixed bracket 55 by bolts 58 and nuts 59 is the sheet shifting air cylinder 60, having a piston with its rod 61 ending in a lug 62 adapted on the forward stroke of the piston to trip the switch arm 57.

Upper side plates 63 welded on said fixed bracket 55 support angle members 64 in which longitudinally grooved square bars 65 of Phosphor bronze are retained by keeper bars 66 and bolts 67 and 63. Said longitudinally grooved bars 65 function as slideways for a sliding bracket 69 having welded thereon a pair of upper trunnion supports 70 each having a forwardly projecting end portion 7l, and downwardly extending lugs 72 connected by a pin 73 to the lug 62 of the sheet shifting air cylinder 60. The L-shaped sheet support arm 74 has a Wear plate 75 of Phosphor bronze secured thereto by countersunk screws 76 and nuts 77, and by means of welded side extension plates 78 and pin 79 is pivoted on the forwardly projecting end portion 7l of the trunnion supports 70. Pivoted on the rear ends of said trunnion supports 70 is support arm tilting air cylinder 8@ having a piston whose rod 8l terminates in a lug 82 pivotally connected by a pin S3 to extension plates 78 so that retraction of Said piston will tilt the sheet support arm 74, and thereby drop the sheet and actuate the extended roller spaans 3 arrh 84 of a small double pole switch 85 on the forward bottom edge of the sliding bracket 69.

Again referring to Fig. l, the right hand carriage 35 comprises a boxlilte welded frame open atl the top and having a bottom plate 86 and side plates 87 wherein are journaled shafts 08 on which are rotatably mounted rollers 39 adapted to run on the ltop of the trackway niembe 33. Hand wheels 90 on large clamp bolts 91 threaded into holes in the middle of the bottom plate S6 permit engagement with the depending stern portion 92 of the trackway member 33. Gusset plates 93 welded to the side plates 87 provide means for xed suspension therefrom of right hand sheet stop and support means corresponding in all essentials to the members already designated by the reference numerals 51 to 85 inclusive (Figs. 4-6), except that they are of opposite hand, so said right hand sheet stop and support means will not require separate description but will be indicated by the addition of primes to the aforementioned numerals 51 to 85 to designate like parts. l The piler 6 is also provided with vertical side guard plates 94 and 95 on each side of the vertically movable roll table 7, the three guard plates 94 being aixed to the legs 22 of the frame of the belt conveyor 5, and the single guard plate 95 preferably having resilient buffers (not shown) and being adjustable on a rectangular side frame 96 of welded members.

Referring to Figs. l, 2 and 7, the vertically movable roll table 7 comprises a plurality of rolls 97 journaled in side plates 98 Welded on tie bars 99 connecting two spaced pairs of longitudinal channels 100 which are supported on any suitable lifting means, which may be hydraulic if desired but are here shown as the two pairs of worm gear jacks 101 and 102. Said pairs of jacks 101 and 102 are driven simultaneously by a single electric motor 103 having a magnetic brake 104, by means of a speed reducer 105 driving the first pair of jacks 101 directly through flexible couplings 106 and 107, shafts 108 and 109, and couplings 110 and 111, and driving the second pair of jacks 102 from the irst pair of jacks 101 through the coupling 112, miter gear unit 113, coupling 114, miter gear unit 11S, coupling 116, coupling 117, shaft 118, and coupling 119. Adjacent stationary roll table S has rolls y120 journaled in lixed side plates 121.

Referring to the schematic diagram of Fig. 8, a preset counter 122 is 'electrically connected to a photocell 123 having a separate light source 124 on the belt conveyor 5,y so as to control a solenoid operated contactor switch 12S which will pass current to the solenoid (not shown) of one of the four-way spring return air valves 126 0r I 126 to shift the sheet 4 to left or right as selected. (The forward edge of the advancing sheet 4 must trst trip extended roller arm 127 to close the sheet contact double pole switch 12S which is in series with the solenoids 'of both valves 126 and 126'.)

Shift cylinder actuated double pole switches S6 and S6' are connected in parallel circuits so as to control the double solenoid operated air valves 129 and 129 simultaneously to admit air to the two support arm tilting cylinders 80 and 80' together in order to drop the previously shifted sheet 4. The support arms 74 'and 74 when in lowered position after dropping the sheet 4 engage extended arms 84 and 84' of the double pole return switches S5 and 85 which control the circuits to the return solenoids of the double solenoid operated air valves 129 and 129.

A short and substantially constant drop distance for the sheets 4 is maintained by the vertically movable roll table '7, which is first elevated to a level closely lbeneath the support arms 74 and 74', and then is automatically lowered in a succession of steps by means of the preset counter 122 and a standard rotary limit switch (not shown) connected to the motor 103, until the level of the stationary roll table 8 is attained..

In operation, the stop plates`51 and 51 are set to a three inches to allow for sta'gger'pling, and the adjustable side guard plates 94 are similarly moved toward or from the ixed side guard plate 95 for a distance corresponding to the width of a sheet. The preset counter 122 is then set to the precise number of sheets to be shifted, i. e., piled to the right or left at one time, with the direction of shifting depending on the position of said preset counter 122. The cold corrugated sheets 4 pass from the corrugating machine 2 over the belt conveyor 5, where the passage of each sheet 4 interrupts the light beam to the photoelectric cell 123 and actuate's the preset counter 122. As each sheet 4 is deposited on the piler support arms 74 and 74 it engages the extended arm 127 of the sheet contact switch 128, which actuates one of the solenoid operated spring return air valves 126 or 126 to supply air to the appropriate ysheet shifting air cylinder 60 or 60f and thus causes one of the sheet support arms 74 or 74 to be shifted laterally in the desired direction prior to dropping the sheet onto the roll table 7.

For example, if the preset counter 122 is set to pile a certain number of sheets to the left, the support arm 74 will be shifted to the left, as shown in Fig. 4, until the end of the sheet 4 engages the left hand stop plate 51 and the lug 62 on the piston rod 61 of the right hand shift cylinder 60 contacts the extended arm 57 of the shift cylinder actuated switch 56'. This causes thedouble solenoid operated air valves 129 and 129 to admit yair to retract the pistons (not shown) of the support arm .tilting air cylinders 'and 80' simultaneously, thereby lowering the support arms 74 and 74 and delivering the sheetto the pile on the left. After the preset number of sheets has been piled to that side, a similar counted lgroup of sheets is piled to the other side, until a .staggered pile of the desired number of groups of sheets has been completed.

The drop of ithesheets is limited to a safe distance to avoid marring the plates by thev descending roll table 7, and tilting the entire stop plate 5-1 upward .permits removal of the sheets on the communicating roll table 8.

When there is no sheet in engagement with the arm .127 of the sheet contact switch 128, the electrical circuits to the solenoids on the air valves 126an'd 1126' are-open'and these valves are held in returned positions by theirsprings (not shown), so. that the Vshifting cylinders 60 and l60' are in retracted positions and the tilting cylinders '80 and 80' are extended with the support arms 74 and 74' in raised-position.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that I haveprovided a device whichis adaptable vfor lpiling sheets of -a wide range of sizes in cxactlycounted staggered groups of sheets without'danger of scratching -or marring the sheets during the piling operation.

It will be understood, Lofcourse, 'that my :sheet ,piling device disclosed above is in fno -way .limited yto vthe handling of corrugated sheets, and 4that the corrugating machine 2 and belt conveyor 5 I have shown-infcoxmection therewith .are merely Arepresentative units out -of a large range of possible sheet ,processing installations adapted for use with 4this invention. For example, vthe device is equally applicable 'to stacking plain or coated sheets or tinplate Vreceived fromshcet leveling and shearing lines, 'or from sheet oiling, painting, stamping or similar Aproduction lines, or even to piling non-metallic sheets or thelke.

In other respects also, although `I have described my invention hereinabove 'in 'considerable detail, YI `do not wish to be limited narrowly'to Vthe exact and specic structure disclosed, but I 'maytu'se suchsubstitutes, `modiii'cati'ons,I or equivalents, thereof vvas are *embraced within theA scope 'of the invention 'or pointed 'out in the appended claims.

Ifclaim: i

1. In a sheetpiling mechanism,=means)forfreeeivlng 'a sheet, means for laterally shifting each sheet individually on said sheet receiving means, and means actuated by the sheet for initiating the opeiytion of said sheet shifting means.

2. In a sheet piling mechanism, a pair of arms for supporting a sheet at its opposite edges, means for momentarily shifting one of said arms laterally, switch means operated by the sheet for actuating said shifting means, means for momentarily tilting said arms to permit the sheet to fall therebetween, and switch means operated upon the lateral shifting of an arm to actuate said tilting mechanism.

3. In a sheet piling mechanism, sheet receiving means, means for shifting said sheet receiving means laterally, means actuated by the sheet for initiating the operation of said sheet shifting means, means for displacing said sheet receiving means to permit the sheet to fall vertically therebetween, and means operable upon dispiacement of said sheet receiving means to return said sheet receiving means to its original position.

4. ln a sheet piling mechanism, a pair of arms for supporting a sheet at its opposite edges, means for shifting one of said arms laterally when a sheet is placed thereon and for restoring said arm to its initial position when the sheet is removed therefrom, and means actuated upon the shifting of said arm to momentarily displace the arms to permit the sheet to drop therefrom.

5. ln a sheet piling mechanism, a pair of arms for supporting a sheet at two opposite sides thereof, means for shifting either of said arms laterally, switch means operable by said sheet for initiating the operation of said shifting means, means for displacing said arms to permit the sheet to drop vertically therebetween, and means actuated upon displacement of said arms for returning said arms to their initial position.

6. In a sheet piling apparatus, a pair of sheet receiving arms, means for shifting said arms laterally, a switch actuated by the sheet for operating said shifting means, means for displacing said arms to permit the sheet to drop vertically therethrough, a switch actuated upon shifting said arms to operate said displacing means, means for restoring said arms to their undisplaced position, a switch actuated upon the displacement of said arms to operate said restoring means, means for shifting said arms laterally to their original position and a switch operated upon the dropping of the sheet through the arms to operate said last mentioned shifting means.

7. A device for piling sheet material, comprising means for feeding the material sheet by sheet, means for shifting each individual sheet laterally to a preselected position, means actuated by contact with such sheet for operating the shifting means, means for causing said shifting means to drop the sheet automatically from said preselected position to form a group of sheets, means for causing the above operations to be repeated at another preselected position until another group of sheets has been piled on the irst group, and transfer means for receiving and removing the piled groups of sheets.

8. A device for piling sheet material, comprising means for feeding the material sheet by sheet, means for shifting each individual sheet laterally to a predetermined position, means actuated by contact with such sheet for operating the shifting means, means for causing said shifting means to drop the sheet automatically from said predetermined position, means for causing shifting and dropping as aforesaid to be repeated on successive sheets for a preset number of sheets, means for then changing the direction of shifting to drop the following sheets from a second predetermined position to form a staggered pile of sheets, and transfer means for receiving the piled sheets by gravity.

9. A device for piling sheet material, comprising mechanism for feeding the material sheet by sheet, a conveyor adjacent the delivery r'td of the sheet feeding mechanism, a pair of normally vertical stop plates mounted over said conveyor, sheet support arms pivotally mounted on said stop plates, preset sheet counting means, photoeiectric means operated by the passage of the sheets over the feeding means for controlling the counting means, a contactor switch having solenoid means actuated by the preset counter, a sheet-engaging switch in series with said contactor switch, air valves having spring return means and solenoid means actuated by the closing of an electrical circuit by the sheet-engaging switch and the contactor switch as selected by the counting means, a rst pair of air cylinders having pistons operable by air admitted by said air valves for laterally shifting the sheet support arms, tilt switch means actuated by the piston of the adjacent shifting cylinder, a second pair of air cylinders having pistons pivotally connected to the sheet support arms for tilting the sheet support arms, return switches actuated by the tilted sheet support arms, and an air valve having a pair of solenoids electrically connected to said tilt switch and return switch respectively.

l0. A device for piling sheets, comprising means for feeding the sheets, a conveyor adjacent the delivery end of the feeding means, normally vertical stop plates above the conveyor, a plurality of arm members pivotally and laterally movably mounted with respect to said stop plates for receiving and supporting each sheet on opposite edges, air cylinder means adapted for laterally shifting the arm members, separate air cylinder means for withdrawing simultaneously the arm members from supporting the sheet edges, and selectively controllable means for admitting air to said air cylinder means in predetermined sequence to form alternately staggered groups of sheets in a pile on the conveyor.

ll. A device for piling sheet material, comprising mechanism for feeding the material sheet by sheet, a conveyor adjacent the delivery end of the sheet feeding mechanism, a pair of normally vertical stop plates each having a window aperture and being mounted above said conveyor, a fixed bracket mounted below the .window aperture, on the rear side of each stop plate, a sheet shifting air cylinder and a pair of slideways on each fixed bracket, a sliding bracket horizontally movable in each pair of slideways, a sheet support arm forwardly projecting through the window aperture and an arm tilting air cylinder separately pivotally mounted on each sliding bracket, a source of air pressure and valves with associated solenoids operatively connected to the above-mentioned air cylinders, and electrical control means for automatically energizing and deenergizing the solenoids in sequence to actuate one of the sheet shifting cylinders in a predetermined direction and then to tilt the support arms together to drop each sheet onto the conveyor.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,208,465 Boreham Dec. 12, 1916 1,365,741 Speer Jan. 18, 1921 1,366,938 Renz Feb. 1, 1921 1,600,958 Hart et al Sept. 21, 1926 1,748,226 Hunt Feb. 25, 1930 1,770,973 Coy July 22, 1930 2,143,779 Kaufman Jan. 10, 1939 2,228,887 Peterson Jan. 14, 1941 2,389,107 Rice Nov. 13. 1945 

